Exploring Regimes of “Truth” during COVID-19

Abstract

In March 2020 the Australian government announced that two cases of community transmission of a novel coronavirus had been detected in the country. In response, the government implemented movement and containment measures which were publicly justified by the warning that the infectious disease COVID-19 was a serious health threat. In the month of March 2020 the Australian way of life was drastically and swiftly transformed as a result of the government’s actions. The lived experience of events can be unpacked through diarised entries and media analysis using the perspective of Foucauldian governmentality concepts and social constructionist theory. This illustrates the ways in which the population was incrementally managed and directed with the goal of keeping cases of COVID-19 to a minimum until a vaccine was deployed to keep the population safe from the virus threat. The justifications used by the government to implement controls are questionable because at the time COVID-19 presented as a mild illness in approximately 80% of cases and was found to predominantly adversely affect the elderly, the majority of whom were in aged care facilities. This article offers a critical analysis of the government directives, and justifications used to coerce the population to comply with measures taken to control them.